Loan requirements

1. The coverage of the guarantees provided by BDB will be able to include new loans in the form of working capital and investment funding.

2. Since the funding covered by the guarantee constitutes state aid, the size of the loans shall be determined according to the funding thresholds set by the European Commission in the State Aid Temporary Framework and subject to maximum funding provided under the New Terms to the Borrower and its related parties in the amount of up to BGN 3,000,000 (three million).

3. Providing funding under the program to refinance old loans is prohibited;

4. Loans can be for both working capital and investment needs.

5. Funded costs must be directly linked to the business activities of the enterprise.

6. There is no limit on the minimum loan term. The maximum loan term is up to 84 months (7 years), but the BDB guarantee is for a term of up to 6 years.

7. The Commercial Bank may grant borrowers grace periods of up to 36 months for principal and interest payments.

8. Security and time to yes: Provided loans are unsecured, except for personal guarantees, which must be provided by the beneficial owners, and (if applicable) such pledges of receivables from bank accounts as provided for by the Obligations and Contracts Act, the Registered Pledges Act, and through a financial security agreement under the Financial Security Agreements Act. Commercial banks shall accept personal guarantees provided by beneficial owners by way of co-debtorship, suretyship or other appropriate form in accordance with the bank's internal rules;

and

Loans are granted within short processing times and optimized approval or refusal time (time-to-yes), namely: within 5 business days upon receipt of the documents required by the Bank for review of the loan request and drawdown time (i.e. the time period between the approval of the Loan and the Borrower being enabled to make an actual drawdown), within 10 business days.

9. The Bank may attract other co-debtors/guarantors, but only on the condition that they are related to the beneficial owner and/or related to the Borrower, within the meaning of §1 (4) of the Supplementary Provisions to the Credit Institutions Act (individuals and entities). No subsequently created collateral of a guaranteed loan is permissible, except for securing the unsecured portion of the Loan and if one of the following hypotheses is present: a) upon the express written credibly dated request of the Borrower/ potentially liable third party, if the Loan is more than ninety (90) days past due and the Bank consents to the creation of such collateral; b) in the event of death/incapacity of an individual co-debtor/guarantor or the beneficial owner of the Borrower and/or in the event of a new beneficial owner; c) winding-up/insolvency proceedings have been initiated against a co-debtor/guarantor company with a petitioner other than the Bank.

10. The Bank shall determine all elements of pricing, including the interest rate on the Loans, in accordance with its policy, and in pricing the Loans (i.e. determining interest rate, fees, etc.), the Bank shall apply its internal rules and customary pricing practice, taking into account the guarantee provided by BDB.

11. Deadline to apply for financing under the new terms of the Programme: 20 December 2021

12. Deadline to include loans in the guaranteed portfolio: 31 December 2021. (BBB EAD has taken action to extend this deadline until 30.06.2022. The positive decision of the European Commission is expected.)

13. Borrowers shall pay BDB a guarantee fee, which shall be determined as laid down by the European Commission in the State Aid Temporary Framework applicable to the Programme.

In accordance with the Commission Recommendation of 14.07.2020 no financial support (guarantee) can be granted to companies with links to countries that are on the EU's list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions. The same restriction applies to companies/individuals who have been convicted of serious financial crimes, such as, inter alia, financial fraud, corruption, non-payment of tax and social security liabilities.

No credit or financial institutions can be funded under the program, because they are supported through other statutory mechanism than through the Temporary Framework.